13 Cubans Steal Vintage Plane for Nerve-Jangling Escape to Florida

MIAMI — Thirteen Cuban defectors stole an aging Russian-made airplane Monday and flew to Florida, despite heavy thunderstorms and broken navigational equipment, officials said.

The defectors included four married couples, their four young children, and an airplane mechanic, said Mario Miranda of the Cuban American National Foundation, a lobbying group for Cuban exiles.

The pilot worked for the Cuban agriculture department, and the plane was an AN-2 single-engine biplane that had been used as an air taxi and crop-duster, officials said.

All of the defectors were friends from Camaguey in eastern Cuba, U.S. Customs spokesman Tom Bowers said.

In Havana, the Cuban government condemned the incident and described the pilot and co-pilot as traitors. The Cuban Civil Aviation Institute said the pair used guns to threaten two guards at Camaguey airport, according to state-owned Prensa Latina news agency.

The Cubans carried small suitcases and bags and waved jubilantly after they landed at Opa-Locka airport in suburban Miami. One of the women burst into tears, and a man shouted “freedom” in Spanish.

The 1950s-era airplane was intercepted and escorted by a U.S. Customs aircraft to the airport, officials said.